Lagos Nurses Threaten Strike
Nurses in Lagos State have threatened to embark on industrial action if the state government fails to meet their demands.
The threat may further paralyse activities in the health sector of the state as the nurses and other health workers have made up their minds to embark on the indefinite strike from Wednesday.
The nurses who protested at the state secretariat of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) in Agidingbi,  resisted every move by the leadership to calm them. They claimed that they had given the government enough time to consider their request for an increase in their salary and a better working environment.
They also asked for the full implementation of the Federal Government’s Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS).
They told P.M.NEWS that they had embarked on a three-day warning strike to press home their demand but that the state government appealed to them to resume work, with a promise that their request would be looked into.
“It’s been a year now that we have been on this and what we keep hearing is a promise by the government that it would come to terms with our requests.
“But as I am talking to you now, nothing has been done about it and we are living a life of make belief,†one of the nurses told P.M.NEWS.
The nurses denied that their earlier action was in solidarity with doctors in the state. They accused the government of listening more to the doctors and ignoring the nurses.
They also described their salaries as a pittance compared to the salaries of their colleagues in federal hospitals like the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH.
State Chairman of the association, Olusegun Badejo, who later spoke with P.M.NEWS in his office, confirmed that the association had met government officials over their complaints but that the state government was lukewarm in its attitude to their demands.
“The way the government is doing it now, everybody who is on step one to six of a level would end up being on step one of the new salary structure approved by the government.
“When the nurses saw this, they became annoyed and expressed their grievances, forcing the government to issue a letter telling us it would effect reviews that would make us comfortable.
“What the association is saying is that we want the full implementation of the CONHESS circular approved by the Federal Government for health workers,†he said.
A letter sent to government agencies on the issue and titled: “Notice of seven-day ultimatum,” stated that “the entire nurses and midwives will proceed on a total and indefinite strike at the expiration of the ultimatum if government fails to fulfil its promise.â€
—Eromosele Ebhomele
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